Today was the second day that the exhibitors' hall was open at the Federation of Genealogical Societies' annual conference in Salt Lake City. I did get a chance to wander and look at new products and services today. Here is a bit of what I saw:
"New York State Censuses & Substitutes" by Bill Dollarhide is a new book available at Heritage Creations' booth. Bill has been a prolific writer for years and the new book is one of a long series he has written about genealogy research techniques. The full title of the book is "New York State Censuses & Substitutes, An Annotated Bibliography of State Censuses, Census Substitutes, and Selected Name Lists in Print, on Microform, or Online; with County Boundary Maps, 1683-1915; and State Census Examples and Extraction Forms, 1825-1925." Whew! That's a mouthful. I hope to review this book soon. In the meantime, you can find more information at the publisher's web site: http://www.heritagecreations.com.
I mentioned earlier that MyFamily.com has released Family Tree Maker 2006. Today I had a chance to look at two new DVD products that accompany the new program: "Family Tree Maker 2006 Basics Training DVD" and the "Family Tree Maker 2006 Advanced Training DVD." These two new videos show how to use the program at maximum efficiency. I haven't had a chance to look but more info should be available at http://www.familytreemaker.com
The International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) is a new non-profit organization devoted to promoting greater understanding of the uses of DNA within genealogy and to become a supportive network for genetic genealogists. This organization charges no dues and has no treasury, according its president, Doug Miller. Doug says the organization subsists on donated web server space and other small donations. The society publishes side-by-side comparison charts of the various Y-chromosome and mtDNA testing services. Further information can be found at http://www.isogg.org.
The French-Canadian/Acadian Heritage DNA Project is sponsored by the French-Canadian Heritage Society of California in conjunction with the Southern California Genealogical Society. The project includes Metis and Cajun cousins. This project is dedicated to the several hundred founding ancestors who came primarily from France in the 17th century. The project plans to create "benchmarks" or modal signatures of the oldest ancestors, identify those who are related, prove or disprove theories about family histories, break through brick walls and to validate existing research. More details may be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~djmill/fcdna.html
I had a chance to see a new e-learning service called Family History Live Online, or FHLO. The service is flexible and can be used in several ways. It can be used one-on-one for consultations or one instructor can conduct a live class for many simultaneous students. It reportedly works well on both dial-up and broadband connections. If large files are to be used in the class with students using slow dial-up connections, data can be sent in advance on CD-ROM disk. The disk is inserted into the computer, a connection is made at class time via dial-up or broadband connections and the course material is retrieved from the CD-ROM disk as the instructor wishes. Performance appears to be faster than downloading all course materials via a typical broadband connection. More information can be found at http://www.familyhistoryliveonline.com.
The Dead Fred Genealogy Photo Archive isn't new but it is growing. This service hopes to search, find and preserve old family photographs. http://www.DeadFred.com
In short, it was a productive day and I hope to find more tomorrow.
